No Place Called away

Dear Bay Weekly:

I for one, am deeply grateful for your in-depth coverage of the trash issue. [Carrie Madren, Breaking the Litter Pick-Up Cycle on the Potomac: Vol. xv, No. 27: July 5].

It’s critical that all citizens understand the consequences of our throw-away habits. There is no place called away. The Millersville Landfill has only one cell left and that is forested. We should be preserving the forest, not using it as a dumping ground for trash that does not degrade.

Annapolis Alderman Shropshire’s excellent move to limit plastic bags, which litter our streets and trees, has drawn fire from citizens who think they are entitled to plastic bags made of petroleum, a product we went to war in Iraq to protect.

I am careful not to buy throw-away containers; I recycle all paper, glass and plastic, and I compost food waste; and I always take canvas bags to do my shopping. As a result I have reduced my throw-away to one pound every three months.

Let’s pay heed to the need to save the earth’s systems from our wasteful habits. Let’s respect the streams that have become waste dumps. Let’s respect ourselves and our children’s future.

–Anne Pearson, Edgewater: Director, Alliance for Sustainable Communities

Sisterly Love, Annapolis to Niteroi

Dear Bay Weekly:

I read with great interest Steve Carr’s article on the new sister city arrangement between Annapolis and Niteroi in Brazil [Vol. xv, No. 28: July 12]. As a conference interpreter and translator, I spend a few weeks in Brazil and especially in Rio each year. (Niteroi is a quick ferry ride from Rio). I speak Portuguese and am planning to retire to Rio in four or five years. I would like to get involved in the sister city program between Annapolis and Niteroi and was hoping that Steve Carr could direct me to the person or organization that administers the program.

–Steven Sachs, Annapolis

Editor’s note: Reach Carr at [email protected].

Missing [email protected]? Try again

Dear Bay Weekly Readers:

I see from a recent USPS letter that you may be wondering why I haven’t gotten back to you.

Dear Bay Weekly:

I have sent two [separate email messages] to your organization. Neither has been responded to. That raises the question: Why do businesses/organizations put Contact Us on their websites if they never respond to questions/comments?

–Shirley Mihursky, Port Republic

Reader Mihursky missed the recent issue of Bay Weekly (Vol. xv, No 24: June 14) where I explained the death of my computer on June 4. If you wrote to me within a two-week period on either side of that time, your message likely died with my computer. Even conversations in progress have slipped into the void. Indeed, Bay Weekly’s entire unpublished editorial memory may be lost. So if you’re wondering whatever happened to the query or story you sent, or if you want to reestablish communications, please write again: [email protected].

If you were ignored before or since then, your email has likely failed to pass through the junk filter. Resend your message — immediately after alerting me by phone to be on the lookout for it: 410-867-0304.

–Sandra Olivetti Martin, Bay Weekly editor